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ABOUT HENRIK IBSEN

Henrik Johan Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828 in the merchant town of Skien, Norway. His father was a merchant who lost his business when Henrik was 8, forcing the family into poverty. At 15, he served as an apothecary’s apprentice in Grimstad. In his six years of working in Grimstad, he painted and wrote poetry in his spare time. In 1849, he wrote his first play, the verse drama Catilina.

In 1850, Ibsen moved to Christiania (now Oslo) to study at the University of Christiania. While living there, he met theater manager Ole Bull, who offered him a job as a writer and manager for the Norwegian Theatre in Bergen. In 1857, he returned to Christiania to run another theater, only to be ousted over mismanagement claims. In 1862, he left his home country and settled in Rome. He would live all over Europe with his wife Suzannah and their child Sigurd until his return to Norway in 1891.

In his early writing career, Ibsen’s goal was to create a National Norwegian Theatre in order to explore his country’s mythology and identity. This was evident in his early work, much of which was not especially well-received. He would bitterly ascribe this to “small-mindedness.” He would write some of his most dynamic work while living abroad, such as the verse dramas Brand and Peer Gynt. These plays were well-received, but he had not yet written the plays that would ultimately seal his legacy.

In 1879, he wrote A Doll’s House, the story of a wife and mother named Nora who decides to leave her husband and children. The final moments were known as “the door slam heard ‘round the world.” The play’s ending caused a scandal when first performed. The German actress Hedwig Niemann-Raabe refused to perform the play with Nora leaving, causing Ibsen to rewrite his ending to appease her. As his next play would show, Ibsen was far from deterred in writing controversial subject matter.

Hedda Gabler's modern connections

Dave Osmundsen (Dramaturg) and Heather Lee Harper (Director) discuss the character of Hedda Gabler and connections with our present moment.

Paul Walsh on the translation

Dave Osmundsen (Dramaturg) interviews Hedda Gabler translator, Paul Walsh, on his approach to translating Ibsen and specifically Hedda.

Ghosts (1881), told the story of Helen Alving, a widow who is forced to confront the sordid truth of her deceased husband and the legacy he left behind. Audiences and critics were disturbed by the play’s depiction of venereal disease, as well as its critique of institutions backed by moral decrepitude. It faced widespread censorship, and actually premiered in America before its first European production. His next play, An Enemy of the People (1882), the story of two brothers (a doctor and the mayor) who war over how to handle news of water contamination in their town, is often viewed as Ibsen’s artistic response to the hostile reception of Ghosts. His further plays continued to examine the inequities, moral quandaries, and the struggle for “the ideal” in his contemporary Norwegian society. These include The Wild Duck (1882), The Lady from the Sea (1888), and Hedda Gabler (1890). His final play, When We Dead Awaken, was written in 1899.

Ibsen and his family returned to Norway in 1891, where he lived out the rest of his years. In 1900, he had several strokes that prevented him from writing. He lived until 1906. According to some reports, his final words were “To the contrary!” His plays have continued to be performed throughout the world, with productions featuring esteemed actors such as Alan Rickman, Lesley Manville, Boyd Gaines, and several others. The role of Hedda Gabler alone has been played by Ruth Wilson, Diana Rigg, Ingrid Bergman, Mary-Louise Parker , and many others.

Diana Rigg as Hedda Gabler

Mary-Louise Parker as Hedda Gabler

Historic timeline

the 19th century Woman

Ibsen is often lauded for his complex, nuanced portrayals of women who assert their independence and individualism. Here are a few real-life women who were not only contemporaries of Ibsen but were also writing about the struggles that women faced in the 19th century.

Laura Kieler

Born Laura Anna Sophie Müller in Norway in 1849, Kieler was a novelist and massive fan of Ibsen’s. She wrote her debut novel, Brand’s Daughter, based on Ibsen’s play Brand, which brought the playwright’s attention to her. She would become good friends with Ibsen and his wife, Suzannah. In 1873, she married Victor Kieler, who contracted tuberculosis soon after their wedding. Laura borrowed money under false pretenses in order to fund a restorative trip to Italy. When she forged a check in an attempt to repay the money, her husband found out about her actions. He demanded a divorce and barred her from seeing their children, causing her to have a mental breakdown and enter an asylum for a month. If this sounds somewhat familiar, it’s because Ibsen used her story as inspiration for A Doll’s House. Laura and Viktor eventually reconciled, but she never forgave Ibsen for appropriating her life for his literary gain.

Camilla Collett

Often referred to as the first Norwegian feminist, Jacobine Camilla Collett was born in 1813. One of the first contributors of realism in Norwegian literature, her most famous work is her only novel, The District Governor’s Daughters. She also wrote several essays and a memoir, bristling against the idea that women were meant to be subservient and self-sacrificing in their societal roles. While Ibsen had great respect for Collett as a writer, she was turned off by his extremely conservative views about women in society. In a letter to her son, she described Ibsen as an “egotist” and the men in his plays as “despot[s] in his dealings with women.”

Over the course of the 19th century the traditional role of women as homemakers begins to shift. The video above provides an over view of the shifting role of working women in the 19th century.

Adda Ravnkilde

Born in Denmark in 1862, Adda Ravnkilde worked as a governess and schoolteacher. She was the author of Judith Fürste, a novel about an unhappy marriage that has never been translated into English. She struggled all her life with the inability to fully self-realize due to restrictive gender roles and died of suicide at age 21. Most of her work was published posthumously. She lived most of her life in Sæby, one of the inspirations for Ibsen’s play The Lady from the Sea.

Amalie Skram

Considered the most important female author in the “Modern Breakthrough,” Amalie Skram was at the forefront of literary naturalism in Norway. Born in 1846 in Bergen, Norway, she wrote novels such as Constance Ring that explored female sexuality, marriage, and mental health. She is also famous for her tetralogy Hellemyrsfolket, which explores the fates of a family over the course of four generations. She was a vocal supporter of Ibsen, especially when his plays A Doll’s House and Ghosts faced controversy. She stated that Ibsen was “blessed with the gift of universal sufferings. He must have carried within his soul all the sorrows of his earthly life.” A travel stipend in her name is awarded annually to a Norwegian author who shows exceptional skill in addressing women’s issues.

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